The traditional technology for automatic control of vehicles AGV by means of following control loops in the surface has increasingly been replaced by more sophisticated control systems, such as systems which search for fixed reference points in a room. By knowing the position of the reference points and by measuring a plurality of angles to these objects, the position of the AGV can be determined and used for controlling the AGV to predetermined positions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,228 discloses a rotating laser which searches an area in which fixed reflecting objects are positioned, and measuring a plurality of angles between the AGV and the different objects, the position of the AGV can be determined.
When installing a new AGV system the positions of the fixed reference objects must be determined. Until now, this has, to a significant extent, been carried out manually by measuring the positions of the reference objects and entering these in a coordinate system which represents an area in which the AGV system is to be installed. To be more precise, the coordinate system generally represents a plane which extends parallel to the surface on which the vehicle AGV is intended to move. Determining the positions has therefore generally been carried out by physically measuring the position of the reference objects relative to the axes of the coordinate system, after which their coordinates have been entered into a computerized control system. The measurement is, however, time-consuming, and difficult to carry out in practice, since most rooms in which the AGV system has been installed also house large objects, such as storage shelves, machinery, and the like.